Shame that DRS won’t be available for India series: Swann

London, July 19 (IANS) England off-spinner Graeme Swann said it is a shame that the umpires’ Decision Review System (DRS) would not be available for decision making in the forthcoming four-match Test series between India and England.

Swann, a big beneficiary of the DRS, backed the controversial Hawk-Eye technology, which has been strongly opposed by the powerful Indian cricket board.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) strongly objected to Hawk-Eye during the ICC’s executive board meeting in Hong Kong last month. Umpires will now be left to themselves to track the path of the ball before the point of impact while judging LBWs.

Asked if it was a conspiracy so that he doesn’t benefit from DRS, Swann said: “I doubt it is a conspiracy.”

“It is just one of those things which the Indians have been opposing right from the outset. It has been their tradition all over the world and I think people at Lord’s will be happy with it. Personally I think it is a good bit of technology. It is improving the work and I think it gets rid of a few glaring errors.”

“It is a shame that it is not being used this summer. I think Hawk-Eye for the first time gave the umpires a lot more chances to review decisions on the front foot LBWs. And now Hawk-Eye coupled with DRS have made the umpires lot more confident about what is hitting and what is not. The standard of umpiring has also improved in the last few years because of the DRS. You see a lot less contentious decisions these days and that is one good thing,” Swann said.

“It is a shame if a Test match gets spoiled due to few bad decisions but the majority of umpires these days are exceptional,” he said.

Swann said England have to play some good cricket to snatch the No.1 Test tag from India.

“India by their rights are on top of the world and it is for us to continue playing good cricket. Coming into this summer were third or fourth in the Test rankings and we are moving in the right direction. We have settled down as a team 2-3 years ago and we have plotted our way to the top of the world,” he said.

Swann sounded confident that by the end of the summer, England would be No.1.

“It is very simple, we have to win as many Test matches as we can in the series. So far, we have gone the right way doing that. Hopefully at the end of this summer, we would be close if not there,” he said.

Swann feels that England’s batting is as good as India’s.

“They have a very good batting line-up but I think our top six are also good. India have (Sachin) Tendulkar who is the best player we have ever seen in modern cricket. He is the only cricketer who can rival Sir Don (Bradman),” he said.

“But we also have good batsmen, who are in great form like Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott. These are the two best batsmen at the moment in world cricket. Then we also have Kevin Pietersen, who we all know, will very soon become the best player. We have a good team covering most bases and that is most important,” said Swann.